From Crime to Coercion: Policing Dissent in Abeokuta, Nigeria, 1900–1940
Abstract
© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Indirect rule
figured prominently in Nigeria’s colonial administration, but historians understand
more about the abstract tenets of this administrative strategy than they do about
its everyday implementation. This article investigates the early history of the Native
Authority Police Force in the town of Abeokuta in order to trace a larger move towards
coercive forms of administration in the early twentieth century. In this period the
police in Abeokuta developed from a primarily civil force tasked with managing crime
in the rapidly growing town, into a political implement of the colonial government.
It became critical in preserving the authority of both the local traditional ruler
and the colonial administration behind him. In Abeokuta, this transition was largely
precipitated by the 1918 Adubi War and the period of increased surveillance that followed
it. This created new responsibilities and powers for the police, expanding their role
in Abeokuta’s administration and raising their stock in the colonial administrative
hierarchy.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22436Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1080/03086534.2019.1576833Publication Info
Daly, SFC (2019). From Crime to Coercion: Policing Dissent in Abeokuta, Nigeria, 1900–1940. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 47(3). pp. 474-489. 10.1080/03086534.2019.1576833. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22436.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Samuel Fury Childs Daly
Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies
Samuel Fury Childs Daly is a historian of twentieth century Africa. His research combines
legal, military, and social history to describe Africa's history since independence.
His recent book, A History of the Republic of Biafra: Law, Crime, and the Nigerian
Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2020), connects the crisis conditi

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